Garment That Rolls-up And Temporarily Anchors Into A Quasi-Belt Configuration

ABSTRACT

An upper torso and arms enclosing garment, that is adapted to, when not in use, be rolled-up and temporarily anchored into a quasi-belt configuration and tied around a wearer&#39;s waist, includes a torso portion with a loop in its front segment that is configured to allow the loop to be extended away from the torso portion to enclose a loop region which has a cross-sectional area that is adapted to allow the distal end of the garment&#39;s sleeve, when in its rolled-up configuration, to pass through this loop region and temporarily anchor it to the torso portion before the distal end is extended away from the torso portion to enable it to be used to tie the garment around a wearer&#39;s waist.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to apparel and body garments such as jackets and long-sleeved shirts. More particularly, it relates to such items that are adapted and optimized to be carried around the waist of a wearer when not in use.

2. Description of the Related Art

It is common for garment wearers to remove upper torso and arms enclosing garments, such as jackets and long-sleeved shirts, as the outside temperature rises, and/or as the wearer's body temperature rises due to exertion. Often, these wearers may want to keep these garments nearby.

However, carrying unneeded garments can be cumbersome, particularly when both hands are needed for a wide range of activities, including athletic endeavors.

A common strategy or technique for dealing with unneeded, upper torso and arms enclosing garments is for a wearer to tie the sleeves of the garment around his/her waist. However, this technique can have disadvantages. For example, when the garment's waist and torso portions hang down and flap against the wearer's legs when he/she is running they are a major irritant.

There have been prior efforts to adapt such garments so that they can more easily be carried about a wearer's waist when not in use. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,782,813. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,978,166, 8,479,315, 8,341,769 and 4,057,854.

Despite this prior art, there continues to be a need for improvements to such garments that will allow them to be worn around a wearer's waist without causing problems for the wearer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Recognizing the need for the development of upper torso and arms enclosing garments that enable them to be more conveniently, and without problems, carried around a wearer's waist when not in use, the present invention seeks to provide such an improved garment.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an improved upper torso and arms enclosing garment, that is adapted to, when not in use, be rolled-up around a line that extends between the distal ends of the garment's sleeves when they are extended laterally away from the garment's center and then temporarily anchored into a rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration, includes: (a) a garment having a torso portion that includes a collar edge, with right and left corners, and a waist edge, a right-side edge, a left-side edge, and a right sleeve portion with a right distal end and a left sleeve portion with a left distal end, and with said right sleeve portion extending from the torso portion at a point that is proximate the collar's right corner, and the left sleeve portion extending from the torso portion at a point that is proximate the collar's left corner, and (b) a loop that is elongated and includes an exterior and an interior surface, and a top loop end and a bottom loop end and a loop centerline therebetween, and which is located proximate the garment's waist edge and oriented so that the loop centerline is approximately perpendicular to the waist edge.

This loop is especially adapted to have a configuration that allows it to be extended away from the torso portion so as to enclose a loop region beneath the interior surface of the loop and the underlying torso portion. This loop region has a cross-sectional area that is adapted to allow a sleeve's distal end, when the garment is in its rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration, to pass through this loop region so as to temporarily anchor a segment of the sleeve to the torso portion while its distal end is extended away from the torso portion so that it can be used to tie the rolled-up garmet around a weaver's waist.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, this loop is adhered to the torso portion by affixing the interior surface of each of its ends to the torso portion.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, this loop consists of two elements, with one attached approximately proximate the garment's right-side edge and the other attached approximately proximate it's left-side edge.

In accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the garment's torso portion has a front segment that includes a pocket, this loop further has a right loop and a left loop edge, and wherein one of these edges is formed by the pocket's opening and the other loop's edge is formed by creating a second opening into the pocket that is oriented so that it is proximate and approximately parallel to the pocket's opening. As before, a sleeve distal end goes in one of these opening and out the other to anchor it to the garment while its distal end is extended away from the torso portion so that it can be used to tie the rolled-up garment around a wearer's waist.

In accordance with still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the garment's torso portion has an exterior and an interior surface, this loop's edges are formed by creating, in the torso portion's front segment, openings that extend between these exterior and interior surfaces and are oriented approximately parallel to one another. When the garment is to be tied around one's waist, a sleeve distal end passes along the garment's exterior surface and goes through an opening to pass along the garment's interior surface before it goes out through another opening to allow it to be extended away from the garment's torso portion.

Thus, there has been summarized above (rather broadly and understanding that there are other preferred embodiments which have not been summarized above) the present invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and appreciated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention in the form of an upper torso and arms enclosing garment that is adapted to, when not in use, be rolled-up with the garment's sleeves extended laterally and anchored so that they can be used to tie the garment around one's waist.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention at an instant in time when it is beginning to be rolled-up along a line that extends between its sideways extend sleeves.

FIG. 3 is a front view that is similar to that shown in FIG. 2 and after the garment's sleeves and torso portions have continued to be rolled-up until the resulting roll has moved down until it nearly reaches the garment's waist.

FIG. 4 is a front view that is similar to that shown in FIG. 3 but after the distal ends of sleeves have been fed from the outside and through the loops on the respective sides of the garments and then allowed to fall downward.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the rolled-up garment as shown in FIG. 3 and taken at a location that is just outside of the garment's left-side loop.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative way to add loops to a garment that has side pockets that are near its waist.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a front view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention 1. In this embodiment, the present invention takes the form of an upper torso and arms enclosing garment (e.g., a long sleeved shirt or jacket) 2 that is provided, on its front and near its waist, with especially designed loops 40, 60 that allow the garment to be, when not in use, temporarily anchored into a rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration and tied around one's waist.

The garment 2 includes a tubular, torso portion 20 which is adapted to cover a wearer's torso and has a collar edge 22, with right 22 a and left 22 b corners, a waist edge 24, a right-side edge 26, and a left-side 28 edge. To cover a wearer's arms, the garment has a tubular, right sleeve portion 30 with a right distal end 32 and a tubular, left sleeve portion 10 with a left distal end 12. Each of these two sleeve portions extends from the garment's torso portion at point that is proximate either the right 22 a or left 22 b corner of the garment's collar 22.

To prepare this garment to be tied around one's waist, its sleeves or sleeve portions are extended to the sides and perpendicularly away from the garment's lateral centerline 3 that extends between its collar 22 and waist 24 edges. See FIG. 2 which shows a front view of the garment with its sleeves extended and after its collar edge has been turned or rolled directly downward in back of the garment's torso portion through a distance that is approximately equivalent to that of a sleeve average width, w. In this position, the line or roll-up line A-A that extends between the sleeves' distal ends 12, 32 is effectively the line about which the sleeves and the torso portion of the garment can continue to be directly rolled backward and downward along the rear segment of the torso portion and towards the garment's waist edge 24.

FIG. 3 shows a similar front view of the garment 2 after its sleeves and torso portions have continued to be rolled around line A-A until the bottom of the resulting roll moves down until it approximately touches the garment's waist and lies beneath the loops 40, 60 that are on the front, torso portion of the garment.

FIG. 4 shows another similar front view of the garment 2 shown in FIG. 3 but after the distal ends of sleeves have been fed from the outside and through the loops on the respective sides of the garments. These distal ends have then been anchored to the garment's torso portion and allowed to fall downward. The garment is now in its temporarily anchored, rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration and the sleeve's distal ends can be used to tie the garment in this specialized configuration around one's waist.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the rolled-up garment as shown in FIG. 3 and taken at a point that is just outside of the left-side loop 40. This loop can be seen to have outer 42 and inner 44 surfaces and top 46 and bottom 48 ends, both of which are adhered to the front of the torso portion. This loop also has a left-side loop centerline 50 that is shown in FIG. 2. The distance between the attached loop ends or the length of the loop is defined and shown in FIG. 4 as the distance L.

It should be noted in FIG. 5 that a specific cross-sectional, left-side loop region 52 is formed or defined as that area which is directly beneath the loop's inner surface 44 and the underlying front of the garment's torso portion to which the loop's ends are attached. In explaining the adaptations or geometry of this loop, it is useful to note that this cross-sectional, left-side loop region 52 has a specific, cross-sectional area A_(L). This area can be seen to be approximately proportional to the loop's length L and the average height of the loop's inner surface above the underlying front of the garment's torso portion.

In order for this loop to act as an anchor, it must be adapted so that its left-side loop region 52 which has the cross-sectional area A_(L) is such that it can accommodate the cross-sectional area of the rolled-up sleeve that must pass through this loop. Shown in FIG. 5 is the related cross-sectional area that is within boundary of the continuous line S. This area is that of the rolled-up sleeve before it has been compressed so that it can be passed through the loop.

To further explain the adaptation necessary for this loop, let's assume or acknowledge that the sleeve can be rolled-up most efficiently so that its perimeter takes the form of a circle which encompasses what we'll define as the rolled-up sleeve's reduced cross-sectional area, S′. This assumption allows us to define some geometric constraints on the size of the loop.

For example, if we assume that, in a cross-sectional view of this loop, it and the section of its underlying front torso portion that exists between the loop ends can be configured into the shape of a circle, we see that the circumference of this circle, C, will be effectively 2 L (i.e., C=2 L). It can also be seen that this circumference dimension can be related to S′, the cross-sectional area of the compressed sleeve, A_(L), since the area of enclosed by the loop and the underlying segment of the front torso portion must be greater than the rolled-up sleeve's compressed area of S′,

A _(L)=L² /π>S′

where:

-   -   Area of circle=πr²; C=2 πr     -   But for the area A_(L), we previously noted that C=2 L; thus,         r=L/π, and this is substituted above to yield the above         equation.

If we assume that A_(L) is, for example, 20% greater than S′, we see L²/π=1.2 S′; thus, L equals the square root of 1.2 πS′.

Alternatively, rather than add the loops to the garment, they can be configured by creating the appropriate openings that pass through the front of the garment's torso portion (i.e., between its exterior and interior surfaces). For example, the desired loops may be formed by adding, on each side where a loop would otherwise be added, a pair of parallel opening into the front of the torso portion, and where the distance between these pair of parallel opening is approximately equivalent to what the width of any added loops would have been. Again, when the garment is to be tied around one's waist, a sleeve distal end passes along the garment's exterior surface and goes through the first of such a pair of openings and passes along the garment's interior surface before it exits though the second of this pair of openings and is extended away from the garment's torso portion so that it can be used to help tie the rolled-up garment around one's waist. As before, the adaptation necessary for these pairs of openings is that their length must meet the prior requirements given above to accommodate the rolled-up sleeves.

If the situation exists that the garment has side pockets that are near its waist, it should be noted that another way of forming the required loops is to just add to the front of the torso portions openings O that extend into the pockets and are located parallel and adjacent to the existing pocket openings. See FIG. 6. Thus, the loop effectively has two lateral edges, one that consists of the pocket's opening and the other that consists of this added opening O. Again, the length of these additional openings L′ must meet the prior requirements given above to accommodate the rolled-up sleeves. In this situation, the distal ends of the sleeves pass through one opening and along the inside of the pocket and then out the adjacent opening.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the present invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described herein. For example, the embodiments discussed above refer to loops on the front segment of the torsion portion and the garment being rolled up and moves down the rear segment of the torso portion. However, this embodiment could easily be reversed to place the loops on the rear segment and then roll up the garment so that it moves down the front segment of the garment's torso segment. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention that is hereinafter set forth in the claims to the invention. 

I claim:
 1. An upper torso and arms enclosing garment that is adapted to, when not in use, be rolled-up, around a line that extends between the distal ends of the garment's sleeves when they are extended perpendicularly away from the garment's lateral centerline that extends between its collar and waist edges, and temporarily anchored into a rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration and tied around a wearer's waist, said garment comprising: a garment having a torso portion that includes a collar edge, with right and left corners, and a waist edge, a right-side edge, a left-side edge, and a right sleeve portion with a right distal end and a left sleeve portion with a left distal end, and with said right sleeve portion extending from said torso portion at a point that is proximate said collar's right corner, and said left sleeve portion extending from said torso portion at a point that is proximate said collar's left corner, a loop that is elongated and includes an exterior and an interior surface, and a top loop end and a bottom loop end and a loop centerline therebetween, and which is located proximate said waist edge and oriented so that said loop centerline is approximately perpendicular to said waist edge, wherein said loop having a configuration that allows said loop to be extended away from said torso portion so as to enclose a loop region beneath the interior surface of loop and said torso portion, and wherein said loop region has a cross-sectional, surface area that is adapted to allow the distal end of a sleeve portion, when in said rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration, to pass through said loop region, so as to temporarily anchor said rolled-up, sleeve portion to said torso portion, and then be extended away from said torso portion so as to enable said rolled-up sleeve portion to be used to tie said garment, when not in use, around a wearer's waist.
 2. The garment recited in claim 1, wherein: said loop is adhered to said torso portion by affixing the interior surface of each of said loop ends to said torso portion.
 3. The garment recited in claim 1, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge.
 4. The garment recited in claim 2, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge.
 5. The garment recited in claim 1, wherein: said garment torso portion having a front segment that includes a pocket with a pocket opening, said loop further includes a right loop and a left loop edge, one of said loop edges is formed by said pocket opening, the other loop edge is formed by creating a second opening into said pocket that is oriented so that said second opening is proximate and approximately parallel to said pocket opening.
 6. The garment recited in claim 5, wherein: said pocket includes a right pocket proximate said garment right edge and a left pocket proximate said garment left edge, said second opening includes a right opening that is associated with said right pocket and a left opening that is associated with said left pocket.
 7. The garment recited in claim 1, wherein: said garment torso portion having an exterior and an interior surface and a front segment, aid loop further includes a right loop and a left loop edge, said loop edges are formed by creating, in said front segment, openings that extend between said exterior and interior surfaces and are oriented approximately parallel to one another.
 8. The garment recited in claim 2, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge.
 9. An upper torso and arms enclosing garment that is adapted to, when not in use, be rolled-up and temporarily anchored into a quasi-belt configuration and tied around a wearer's waist, said garment comprising: a garment having a torso portion with a front and a rear segment and including a collar edge, with right and left corners, and a waist edge, and a lateral centerline that extends between said collar and waist edges, a right-side edge, a left-side edge, and a right sleeve portion with a right distal end and a left sleeve portion with a left distal end, and with said right sleeve portion extending from said torso portion at a point that is proximate said right corner of said collar, and said left sleeve portion extending from said torso portion at a point that is proximate said left corner of said collar, an elongated loop that includes an exterior and an interior surface, and a top loop end and a bottom loop end and a loop centerline therebetween, and which is located proximate said waist edge and oriented so that said loop centerline is approximately parallel to said garment lateral centerline, wherein said loop is adapted to enable said loop to be extended away from said torso portion to enclose a loop region beneath the interior surface of loop and the underlying segment of said torso portion, wherein said garment is adapted so that said rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration is achieved by extending said distal ends of said sleeve portions of said garment away from said garment lateral centerline and then rolling up said garment around a roll-up line that extends between the distal ends of said extended sleeve portion in a manner that yields a roll-up sleeve portion that moves down said rear segment of said torso portion, and wherein said loop region has a cross-sectional area that is adapted to allow the distal end of a sleeve portion, when in said rolled-up, quasi-belt configuration and proximate said waist edge, to move towards said lateral centerline of said garment and pass through said loop region, so as to temporarily anchor said rolled-up, sleeve portion to said torso portion, and then be extended away from said torso portion so as to enable said rolled-up sleeve portion to be used to tie said garment around one's waist.
 10. The garment recited in claim 9, wherein: said loop is adhered to said torso portion by affixing the interior surface of each of said loop ends to said torso portion,
 11. The garment recited in claim 9, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge.
 12. The garment recited in claim 10, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge.
 13. The garment recited in claim 9, wherein: said front segment of said garment torso portion having a pocket with a pocket opening, said loop further includes a right loop and a left loop edge, one of said loop edges is formed by said pocket opening, and said other loop edge is formed by creating a second opening into said pocket that is oriented so that said second opening is proximate and approximately parallel to said pocket opening.
 14. The garment recited in claim 13, wherein: said pocket includes a right pocket proximate said garment right edge and a left pocket proximate said garment left edge, said second opening includes a right opening that is associated with said right pocket and a left opening that is associated with said left pocket.
 15. The garment recited in claim 9, wherein: said garment torso portion having an exterior and an interior surface and a front segment, said loop further includes a right loop edge and a left loop edge, said right and left loop edges are formed by creating, in said front segment, openings that extend between said exterior and interior surfaces and are oriented approximately parallel to one another.
 16. The garment recited in claim 15, wherein: said loop includes a right loop that is proximate said right-side edge and a left loop that is proximate said left-side edge. 